Update September 8, 2023: PERMANENTLY CLOSED
There’s a new Mexican joint in town, and it’s definitely worth checking out. Pedro Rosales opened made-from-scratch eatery Tacos My Love with Chef Jonathan Alberto in early May in the spot that formerly housed Mid Peninsula Seafood at 400 49th St. South in St. Petersburg.
The ambience is festive, the menu features traditional dishes and they have live music four to five times a week. The menu has a wide variety of plant based options such as vegan nachos and jackfruit tacos, as well as traditional meat based dishes like carne asada and tacos al pastor. Specials include Taco Tuesday, Thursday ladies night, Sunday brunch, and Happy Hour from 4-6pm.
We paid them a visit last Thursday, and we were quite pleased with our experience. We went at 6, which seems to be a good time to go if you’re not concerned with happy hour. As we entered the nearly empty space, we were told that we just missed the happy hour crowd with the space being quite busy. By the time we left, it was bustling again.
We started off with drinks and immensely enjoyed the Paloma and Top Shelf Margarita, which I ordered with Hornitos tequila. The Paloma was smokey as they make it with mezcal. Lori ordered her second with tequila as Mezcal tastes like bandaids to her.
For starters we had chips & salsa, queso dip, and Mexican street corn. The house made salsa with charred tomatoes, jalapeños and onion was delicious. The queso dip was good, but could have used a tad bit more seasoning.
The Mexican Street Corn, in this case a unique version of elotes (served on the cob, unlike esquites which is also Mexican street corn, but served off the cob) was extremely satisfying. It’s unique because it is cut off the cob into pieces, but maintains part of the pith keeping the kernels together so you still pick it up with your hands and bite the corn off. The corn was sweet, juicy, and buttery.
Lori’s Tex-Mex go-to is always fajitas, and mine is always tacos. Let’s talk about “Authentic Mexican”, “Tex-Mex” and “Fine dining” for a moment.
Tacos My Love describes themselves as “Authentic Mexican”. The word “authentic” can be a minefield when it comes to cuisine. Sometimes, there is a clear definition, but it’s usually a little fuzzy as cuisine does evolve over time, and in different areas when it moves around the globe. “Italian” in New Jersey is quite different than “Italian” in Naples Italy, for example.
Everyone has their own definition of authentic when it comes to different cuisines. I would describe Tacos My Love as closer to Tex-Mex, but probably what most Americans expect from a Mexican restaurant here in the USA. So, perhaps to the American general audience it IS authentic, so I’m not really criticizing them for it.
However, for some bizarre reason, two other online publications described this as “fine dining”, to which I say “WTF?!?!” Paper napkins, picnic tables, and food you eat with your hands is not fine dining. Most Mexican eateries are not fine dining, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Writing about food and restaurants when you have no clue what you’re talking about is a problem though.
Ok, enough on semantics. What’s really important is that the food is really good here.
I chose the Taco Sampler so I could try four different tacos. (When you pick individual tacos, they come in threes.)
I ate from right to left to save the hard shell for last. In this order they are Carnitas, Chicken Tinga, Pastor, and Hard Shell with Ground Beef Picadillo.
The Carnitas were quite juicy with a flavorful marinade, and tangy tomatillo salsa.
Chicken is sometimes the Rodney Dangerfield of meat. It gets no respect. Not this chicken. It was the tastiest, juiciest chicken I ever had in a taco. The Ladies Night menu describes it as Chicken Tinga, and the regular menu calls it an Adobe Chicken Taco. It’s the same thing, so no worries.
The Pastor taco was good, but my least favorite as it was a little chewy, but it still had good flavor.
The Hard Shell Taco with Ground Beef is the least authentic in reality, but the most authentic when it comes to the American version, and especially the first type of taco I ever had as a kid. It was actually for many years into my young adulthood the only type of taco I knew about. Later I found out that this is not what they eat in Mexico, but I LOVE it!
Lori ordered the Fajita My Love, which is sort of a sampler too as it comes with steak, chicken, and shrimp. She said they were “Very different with the inclusion of broccolini. The meats were cooked with a nice char but I felt they could have used a tad more seasoning. Overall, they were good not great. And I think they went a little too far in trying to make them different.”
Some of the other offerings include chimichangas, burritos, enchiladas, and quesadillas. There are several jackfruit items including birria, carnitas, pastor and more. The jackfruit is imported from Mexico, and supplied by Jackfruit Land in Bradenton, which is also owned by Pedro. They have some of their own branded packaged jackfruit items available at retail stores as well.
Tacos My Love has something for everyone, and is a great addition to the food scene here in St. Petersburg, Florida. Check out the menus below.
High quality, made from scratch Mexican and Tex Mex dishes in a spacious festive environment in west central St. Pete.
PLEASE NOTE: Reviews reflect a certain moment in time. Some restaurants stay extremely consistent over many years, and some change for the better or worse. Some things that may change are: chefs, recipes, food suppliers, ingredients, philosophies, ownership, etc. We always hope that you have the same good, or great experience we had.